Macedonia's first eurobond issue, worth some EUR 150 million, is scheduled for December. Finance minister Nikola Popovski will launch the roadshow in the second half of this month. Citigroup will be the lead manager of the issue.
The proceeds from the eurobond will be used to repay a portion of the country's foreign debt. It is expected that the swap will be beneficial because of an expected lower interest rate on the new issue. The IMF has set the end of 2005 as the deadline for the issue. At beginning of November, Fitch assigned Macedonia LT foreign and local currency ratings of BB with positive outlook. In August, S&P has upgraded its LT foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on the country to BB+ from BB, and to BBB- from BB+, respectively, on the back of sustained political stabilization.